Explorers Return after Conquering Bruneau Canyon

Twin Falls Times-News
August 1, 1950

“With a happy ending, the story of the conquest of Bruneau Canyon comes to an end. The three explorers are home and so are there rescuers. The only uncertain note that remains is the whereabouts of the second group of ‘explorers’ who entered the mouth of the canyon almost a week ago. Today they probably are some place in the vicinity of ‘Indian Hot Springs’ about half way through the canyon. And judging from the experiences of the first group, the second trio is wet, tired and considerably uncertain about the immediate future.

Leonard Miracle, 24, with his brother, Stanley, 23, and John Hughes, 22, all Twin Falls, arrived home late Monday afternoon. They were weary and unshaven and their eyes were dull from their experiences. But through their weariness was shining a bright gleam – the gleam of having done what never had been done before.

To the best of their knowledge the three men are the first to go from one end of the canyon to the other in a boat.”

“Arthur Miracle, father of two of the boatmen, and Kenneth Miracle, a brother, also are home. They arrived back from the rim of the canyon shortly after the three explorers hit town.”

“Their trip to Bruneau canyon was based on a mistake. The rubber boat Kenneth Miracle spotted from an airplane Sunday morning about 20 miles from the canyon was not the boat for which he was looking. It belonged to three men from Castleford who, last Wednesday, entered the canyon at Murphy’s hot springs to explore some of Idaho’s most rugged country.

Believing the boat belonged to his brothers, Kenneth Miracle and his father decided to take supplies to the three men. He and his father knew that, at the rate they believed the explorers to be going, it would be another 12 days or two weeks before the trio would reach the lower end of the canyon. With the supplies they headed for ‘Indian Hot Springs,’ which is a crossing in the canyon, to wait until the boat reached that point.”

“The three men from Castleford, who were mistaken from the air by Kenneth Miracle for his brothers and Hughes, are Frank Thornton, 45, William Thornsberry, 29, and Frank Lewis, about 35. According to friends in Castleford they do not plan to come out of the canyon until next Sunday…It is their hope to take a leisurely trip down the canyon and fish along the way.

‘If their trip is leisurely,’ Leonard Miracle said grimly, ‘I’d like to see it. I wouldn’t go back through that canyon, right now anyway, for a lot of money.’”